2011 BBM 2nd Version

BBM's 2nd Version set was released in early August.  It contains 311 cards this year.  216 of those are the "regular" player cards - 18 per team.  The cards feature BBM's usual high quality photography.  Here's some sample cards:

#576

#499

#509

#594

#532

There are 25 26 players who appear on the "regular" 2nd Version set but did not appear in the 1st Version set:  Yudai Kawai (Dragons), Koji Mise(Dragons), DJ Houlton (Hawks), Sho Iwasaki (Hawks), Randy Messenger (Tigers), Takahiro Aoki (Carp), Yoshihiro Maru (Carp), Keisuke Tanimoto (Fighters), Tomoya Yagi (Fighters), Makoto Moriyama (Buffaloes), Yuki Nishi (Buffaloes), Koji Yamasaki (Buffaloes), Hideto Asamura (Lions), Atsushi Okamoto (Lions), Ryo Sakata (Lions), Masato Nakamura (Eagles), Shinbtaro Ejiri (BayStars), Kazuya Fujita (BayStars), Takeshi Hosoyamada (BayStars), Tatsuhiko Kinjoh (BayStars), Hiroki Sanada (BayStars), Yuki Yoshimura (BayStars), Levi Romero (Giants), Takahiro Suzuki (Giants), Yasunari Takagi (Giants) and Kazunari Tsuruoka (Giants).

The set also features 36 (three for each team) 1st Version Update cards.  Most of these cards feature guys who for whatever reason did not appear in the "regular" 1st Version set (although a couple - Takayuki Makka of the BayStars and Hiroki Yamada of the Hawks - appeared in the "Recommended Hope 2011" subset).  One card, however, is of Shinji Takahashi of the Giants, who appeared in the 1st Version set with the Fighters before he was traded to Yomiuri.  A couple of the Buffaloes cards show the players wearing retro Hankyu uniforms from one of the "Legend Of The Bs" games.  The cards of Norihiro Nakamura of the BayStars and Hirotaka Egusa of the Lions look like they were taken at the press conference announcing their signing.  Here's a couple sample cards:

#431

#454

Oddly enough, three of the players featured in the 1st Version Update have "regular" 2nd Version cards as well - Yoshihiro Maru, Yuki Nishi and Hideto Asamura.  As always, I have no idea how BBM determines who gets an Update card and who gets a "regular" 2nd Version card.

There are three 12 card (1 player per team) subsets in the set.  "Young Guns" features rookie (or near rookie) players (including Yuki Saitoh of the Fighters, of course).  "2011 Opening Pitcher" features the Opening Day pitcher for each team.  The "Impressive Scene" subset highlights a notable achievement for a player for each team (not sure what they are off hand).  Here's an example from each subset:

#679

#683

#698

There are 12 team checklists, each showing some candid photo from the early part of the season.  Here's the one for the Orix Buffaloes (#711) showing T-Okada (on the left) and someone else (a coach maybe?) in the retro Hankyu uniforms:

Since 2004, the 2nd Version set has featured a subset showing various celebrities throwing out the first pitch at a game.  This year's edition contains anime character Konan Edogawa, comedian and Ibraki Golden Golds manager Kinichi Hagimoto, Sapporo Beer Image girl Mika Hazuki, Owarai comedian Yuki Himura, celebrity chef Tatsuya Kawagoe, former player Kazuhiro Kiyohara, voice actress Suzuko Mimori (dressed as the anime character she voices - Sherlock "Shery" Shellingford), model Akina Minami, sportswriter Hirotada Ototake, Hiromichi Sato (who I think is a TV host of some sort), and SKE48 singer Akane Takayanagi.  Here's the Kiyohara card (#723) - I think the pinstriped suit makes him look like a businessman, but I'm not sure if he's a legitimate one or not:

All the cards in the set can be seen at Jambalaya's web site.